Mini Cooper S as a Trackday Car??
Discussion
I bought a Mini Cooper S for my o/h to learn to drive in last year, but as yet she hasn't bothered; so it's just sat there looking a bit sorry for itself!! Anyway I've been toying with getting a track biased car for a while, and was going to spend a few £k on a mk2 golf, but have recently been toying with the idea of turning the CooperS into a track toy - either that or sell it and buy something else. The benefit of playing with the mini, is should the o/h suddenly develop a passion for learning to drive, I don't need to go and buy something else, I can just turn this back into a road/track car, and it will be a reasonably comfortable car to drive to whatever track I'm going to.
I was thinking of spending a couple of £k on the car to get it up to a sensible level, with about £800 spent on a 220bhp upgrade from GTT, then the rest spent on suspension etc. What's everyone's thoughts?
I was thinking of spending a couple of £k on the car to get it up to a sensible level, with about £800 spent on a 220bhp upgrade from GTT, then the rest spent on suspension etc. What's everyone's thoughts?
They're ok, but they are front wheel drive and you'll want to ditch the runflats at least, if you do want to tune it make sure you fit a larger intercooler, i'd suggest the GRS one, but apart from that to make it more responsive go for a 15% pulley, i went for a 17% pulley but that means you need to upgrade injectors and everything else.
Another worthwhile addition is a janspeed header & cat, you can keep the standard exhaust from the cat-back if you want, i went janspeed from front to back and as far as i know i'm one of the only people with it, be warned though it's bloody loud, it would be worth looking at a milltek for the cat-back
Also have a look round at other tuners,
www.minitorque.com is a pretty good place to start.
Also it's pretty easy to fit stuff yourself, i fitted almost all the upgrades except the teflon coated supercharger.
There's a link to my upgrades here & costs
:
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHist...
And there's some videos of mine here, the first is just with the janspeed cat-back and the second is with the manifold as well.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7374244663...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-906516086...
Another worthwhile addition is a janspeed header & cat, you can keep the standard exhaust from the cat-back if you want, i went janspeed from front to back and as far as i know i'm one of the only people with it, be warned though it's bloody loud, it would be worth looking at a milltek for the cat-back
Also have a look round at other tuners,
www.minitorque.com is a pretty good place to start.
Also it's pretty easy to fit stuff yourself, i fitted almost all the upgrades except the teflon coated supercharger.
There's a link to my upgrades here & costs
:http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHist...
And there's some videos of mine here, the first is just with the janspeed cat-back and the second is with the manifold as well.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7374244663...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-906516086...
Edited by Silent1 on Monday 26th January 10:04
g? If you're after a FWD hatch for track/fun use only, wouldn't the money be better spent on selling the Mini and buying a 205 or Golf?matc said:
I was thinking of spending a couple of £k on the car to get it up to a sensible level, with about £800 spent on a 220bhp upgrade from GTT, then the rest spent on suspension etc. What's everyone's thoughts?
Spend a couple of grand on a dedicated track car (doesn't have to be exotic, I know 2 guys with a E30 325i) and strip it out for the track.The MINI is too lardy to begin with, adding power doesn't make it better round the corners, just faster down the straights, and they're no fun anyway
EDIT: Like this guy is doing.... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by Mark Benson on Monday 26th January 12:31
I've spent a fair bit of time in a Mini Cooper S GP550 jobby on track days with a some sensible track mods to it and they are huge fun on track but not cheap by any stretch. To turn it into a decent track car will kill its road character. I did a road trip in it from Spa to the Ring.... first 30 miutes loving it, by the end of an hour I just wanted to get out.
The cars need a strong LSD BIG TIME for track use. More important than any other feature, which makes it quite expensive and the brakes wont last when you get confident with it. We had Brembo's on the front of ours and needed various ducting mods to keep them cool, even then they had a life of about 3 to 4 laps before the pedal went long at a typical UK track. They never actually faded but the long pedal could be a real drag.
Ultimately the problem with them as a track car is they are proper heavey cars!
There are cheaper ways of doing track days but then its a great fun pretty rapid car but at the top end of the expense curve for a FWD
The cars need a strong LSD BIG TIME for track use. More important than any other feature, which makes it quite expensive and the brakes wont last when you get confident with it. We had Brembo's on the front of ours and needed various ducting mods to keep them cool, even then they had a life of about 3 to 4 laps before the pedal went long at a typical UK track. They never actually faded but the long pedal could be a real drag.
Ultimately the problem with them as a track car is they are proper heavey cars!
There are cheaper ways of doing track days but then its a great fun pretty rapid car but at the top end of the expense curve for a FWD
Mark Benson said:
The MINI is too lardy to begin with, adding power doesn't make it better round the corners, just faster down the straights, and they're no fun anyway
EDIT: Like this guy is doing.... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Better phone up McLaren and let them know that adding power only makes them quicker down the straights and not round the corners. Everything is relative and a Radical makes a Lotus look lardy; doesn't change the fact that a Lotus is a damn good car.EDIT: Like this guy is doing.... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by Mark Benson on Monday 26th January 12:31
Guessing Tosh? I've had various and many darned expensive motors of upto 500bhp plus over the years and £ for £, the Mini S is one of the very best cars I've ever owned, hence why I have had it for seven years now; have the odd hoot and still keep your licence! The 197 is 10% better on track and 25% inferior on the road. For a fun trackday wagon, do as sjg says, but....if you can afford it, do up the power a little bit and get Works calipers, discs, pads and rear pads. As good as they look, don't go the Porsche calipers route; barely on the track and never on the road will you get enough heat into them and they'll squeal like buggery. Supercharged one is the one to go for; whereas the newer Turbo one certainly doesn't, the old one has an incredibly strong bottom end; there are apparently one or two folks running around with a turbo conversion on the standard supercharged bottom end with not far off 400bhp.
OP: Suggest you get into the Mini Forum and you'll get more meaningful input and avoid the buy an old BMW/MR2/205 lot; nothing wrong with any of those at all, but Jeez, it would be a boring place if we all drove the same thing.
Mini cooper s is a good fun track car. Just get better brakes and ditch run flats.
these chaps in the states do some good things i have driven there 287 Hp car and it was like a rocket ...
http://www.promini.com/project_cars/silver_sonic/
these chaps in the states do some good things i have driven there 287 Hp car and it was like a rocket ...
http://www.promini.com/project_cars/silver_sonic/
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I was thinking most of the mods I would do would perhaps not be as drastic as installing a roll cage, but things that would still make it usable on the road, i.e. extra power, better brakes, suspension and maybe a couple of bucket seats.
I have considered the E30/Golf etc. option, but don't think I could justify having another car on the drive, especially one that will get rare use. I would ideally like to get the Mini to be the sort of car I could drive to Spa, that would be fun to drive there and on the track.
Any mini owners have any suggestions on how to increase the power, I was thinking of the GTT upgrade, but not sure this is the best route?? It feels a bit slow at the moment to be honest.
I have considered the E30/Golf etc. option, but don't think I could justify having another car on the drive, especially one that will get rare use. I would ideally like to get the Mini to be the sort of car I could drive to Spa, that would be fun to drive there and on the track.
Any mini owners have any suggestions on how to increase the power, I was thinking of the GTT upgrade, but not sure this is the best route?? It feels a bit slow at the moment to be honest.
The only thing i have against GTT is the fact that they haven't ever dyno tested their cars.
So the GTT220 which is allegedly 220bhp has come up on dynos well short.
For instance my kit made another car look very silly on the dyno especially when his was supposed to be 20bhp more than mine.
IMHO, get 1320 autos to do it, they don't charge the earth because they don't have flash premises, but i reckon anyone who runs a jet dragster for fun probably knows how to wield a spanner or 2.
So the GTT220 which is allegedly 220bhp has come up on dynos well short.
For instance my kit made another car look very silly on the dyno especially when his was supposed to be 20bhp more than mine.
IMHO, get 1320 autos to do it, they don't charge the earth because they don't have flash premises, but i reckon anyone who runs a jet dragster for fun probably knows how to wield a spanner or 2.
Your other half is lucky to get such a nice car to learn in! Mine got a fiesta 1.1 !
All depends what do you think the mini is worth? 10k ? you'd get one hell of a kit car for that, caterham/westfield maybe? Something with a bike engine? Would get you a tidy elise which the missus could still possibly learn in and is much more track focused?
Mine got a fiesta 1.1 !All depends what do you think the mini is worth? 10k ? you'd get one hell of a kit car for that, caterham/westfield maybe? Something with a bike engine? Would get you a tidy elise which the missus could still possibly learn in and is much more track focused?
davido140 said:
Your other half is lucky to get such a nice car to learn in! Mine got a fiesta 1.1 !
All depends what do you think the mini is worth? 10k ? you'd get one hell of a kit car for that, caterham/westfield maybe? Something with a bike engine? Would get you a tidy elise which the missus could still possibly learn in and is much more track focused?
Depends more on what the missus wants to do/needs when she does get round to bothering: Agree that all those suggestions are sound from the point of view of being much more inherently track focused, but they'd all be about as useful as a chocolate teapot down at Tesco. Mine got a fiesta 1.1 !All depends what do you think the mini is worth? 10k ? you'd get one hell of a kit car for that, caterham/westfield maybe? Something with a bike engine? Would get you a tidy elise which the missus could still possibly learn in and is much more track focused?
Took my old Cooper S round Brands and Bedford in the year that I owned it, and it was massive fun! As has been said though, the car is pretty heavy and my brakes suffered big time. I would sort the brakes out first and do 1 trackday. You'll pretty quickly realise whether it's the kind of trackcar you want.
Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
MINIrocket said:
Took my old Cooper S round Brands and Bedford in the year that I owned it, and it was massive fun! As has been said though, the car is pretty heavy and my brakes suffered big time. I would sort the brakes out first and do 1 trackday. You'll pretty quickly realise whether it's the kind of trackcar you want.
Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
Sound Advice Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
splitpin said:
MINIrocket said:
Took my old Cooper S round Brands and Bedford in the year that I owned it, and it was massive fun! As has been said though, the car is pretty heavy and my brakes suffered big time. I would sort the brakes out first and do 1 trackday. You'll pretty quickly realise whether it's the kind of trackcar you want.
Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
Sound Advice Only then is it worth looking at whether you spend any money on it, or find a different car.
For me, it was great, chassis is well set up and at the limit the car is really easy to handle so it's a perfect car to learn how to drive quicker.
There's always going to be arguments over what's the "best" track car for a certain amount of cash, but tbh they're all different and suit different people. Get your MCS out on track once or twice and then make a decision?
dr.pepper said:
What is the actual weight of the Cooper S?
I've seen various figures thrown about on car comparison websites that all seem to vary.
I have an 02 MCS and according to my Official Owner's Handbook, it's 1215kg (2679lb) ready for the road, with 75kg (165lb) load and 90% full tank.I've seen various figures thrown about on car comparison websites that all seem to vary.
This is with the manual gearbox and "without optional extras", so stuff like the Chilli Pack with A/C etc will add to that weight.
Trust of assistance
I had mine on track and loved it. it was great as a standard JCW S, and even better after it was fettled with coilovers, Team dynamics and R888s, with a few other bits to boot.
3 of us had a great day at Marham a few years back on the charity day... clip here from mine...
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles013.h...
and here
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles012.h...
You will notice the lack of an LSD
(it was pre facelift) which made a big difference. The guy in the light blue one has one - in fact my car lives on in his as most of the mods were bought by him when it went back to standard to sell. Did more than 10 days in it.
I miss it, it surprised plenty of people as apart from being lower I kept it completely standard on the outside, but the new car is heaps more fun and cheaper to run...
3 of us had a great day at Marham a few years back on the charity day... clip here from mine...
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles013.h...
and here
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles012.h...
You will notice the lack of an LSD
(it was pre facelift) which made a big difference. The guy in the light blue one has one - in fact my car lives on in his as most of the mods were bought by him when it went back to standard to sell. Did more than 10 days in it.I miss it, it surprised plenty of people as apart from being lower I kept it completely standard on the outside, but the new car is heaps more fun and cheaper to run...
Hobzy said:
I had mine on track and loved it. it was great as a standard JCW S, and even better after it was fettled with coilovers, Team dynamics and R888s, with a few other bits to boot.
3 of us had a great day at Marham a few years back on the charity day... clip here from mine...
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles013.h...
and here
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles012.h...
You will notice the lack of an LSD (it was pre facelift) which made a big difference. The guy in the light blue one has one - in fact my car lives on in his as most of the mods were bought by him when it went back to standard to sell. Did more than 10 days in it.
I miss it, it surprised plenty of people as apart from being lower I kept it completely standard on the outside, but the new car is heaps more fun and cheaper to run...
Nice one. Horses for courses.....Like your Caterham, my Radical is heaps more fun/extra dimensional on the track, but not so good/clever for zipping around town or going to Sainsburys, particularly in the rain.3 of us had a great day at Marham a few years back on the charity day... clip here from mine...
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles013.h...
and here
http://adeadguy.net/webby/pages/movievehicles012.h...
You will notice the lack of an LSD
(it was pre facelift) which made a big difference. The guy in the light blue one has one - in fact my car lives on in his as most of the mods were bought by him when it went back to standard to sell. Did more than 10 days in it.I miss it, it surprised plenty of people as apart from being lower I kept it completely standard on the outside, but the new car is heaps more fun and cheaper to run...
As a car which can do both (lug home the bags and raise a smile on track), as well as being a refined and fun road car and a car that is just as likely to be being driven by a millionaire as someone with just the one car (bit like a Golf GTI) the MCS does indeed take some beating.
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